Israel says it has killed around two dozen Iranian commanders, nuclear scientists since June 13
\n Tehran
\nAt least 10 members of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were assassinated in Israeli air strikes on the central province of Yazd on Sunday, Iranian media stated.
\nIran has not yet responded publicly to the reported deaths in Yazd.
\nThe IRGC, a powerful branch of Iran\u2019s military reporting directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, plays a central role in the country\u2019s foreign operations and oversees its ballistic missile and nuclear programmes. It comprises around 190,000 active personnel and was designated a terrorist organisation by the United States in 2019. An unspecified number of other IRGC personnel were also wounded in the strikes, which mark one of the deadliest Israeli attacks on Iranian territory since tensions escalated earlier this month, reported semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
\nIsrael has not officially confirmed the strike in Yazd but claims it has assassinated around two dozen Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists since June 13.
\nIsraeli air strikes have killed several top Iranian military officials and nuclear scientists, including the commander of the IRGC Hossein Salami, in one of the most direct and deadly escalations between the two countries to date.
\nIRGC has begun using the Kheibar Shekan missile\u2014also known as the Khorramshahr-4\u2014which was unveiled in 2022 and is believed to carry the heaviest payload among Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles. IRGC said its latest missile strikes targeted Ben Gurion International Airport and several research sites in Israel.
\nMeanwhile, Iranian state media has confirmed the deaths of at least four senior military officials in Israeli strikes, including Salami, Armed Forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC aerospace commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and General Gholamali Rashid.
\nThe attacks also killed six prominent nuclear scientists and wounded hundreds, as Israel targeted key infrastructure sites across Iran, including the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
\nAfter the assasinations, Khamenei appointed Ahmad Vahidi as the new IRGC chief and Majid Mousavi as head of its aerospace division.
\nThe initial wave of Israeli strikes, involving approximately 200 fighter jets, hit multiple Iranian cities, including Tehran, Isfahan, Arak, Tabriz, and Kermanshah. In Kermanshah, near the Iraqi border, an underground ballistic missile storage facility was reportedly destroyed.
\nIranian authorities initially reported at least 80 people killed and over 320 wounded in the first round of attacks. However, updated figures from Human Rights Activists (HRA), a Washington-based monitoring group, indicate that Israeli strikes have killed at least 950 people and injured more than 3,450 across Iran to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel says it has killed around two dozen Iranian commanders, nuclear scientists since June 13 Tehran At least 10 members of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were assassinated in Israeli air strikes on the central province of Yazd on Sunday, Iranian media stated. Iran has not yet responded publicly to the reported deaths in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":486131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-486115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n